News Anchor Destroys Coke Ad Haters With 2 Minute On-Air Speech

Post by The Gaily Grind.com.

Ireland's Trinity College to Ban Coca-Cola, P&G Products During Sochi Games

Citing Coca-Cola's refusal to denounce Russia’s anti-gay propaganda laws, Ireland’s Trinity College has announced that products by the Olympic sponsor will be banned from the campus during the upcoming Sochi Games. Products made by Proctor & Gamble, also a sponsor, will be banned as well.

 

TheJournal.ie reports that LGBTQ Rights Officer for Trinity College Dublin Students' Union, Stephen Hatton wrote a letter to Coca-Cola announcing their school's intent to boycott the company:

"Your company had an unparalleled opportunity to denounce the vulgar and inhumane Anti-Gay Laws of Russia on a worldwide stage, an action which, if made, would have undoubtedly sparked global awareness and positive change for the LGBTQ community in Russia and beyond."

Leanna Byrne, Communications Officer with TCDSU, says the ban “sends our a strong message”

“We’ve been mandated by the students to do this,” she said. “I think it’s very important that we stand by our minority groups. People might think it is not a student issue, but it it certainly is for a lot of  the people in college.”

She added: “There seems to be a lot of positive reaction from LGBT societies and organisations throughout the country.

TCDSU has also written to Coca-Cola about the company’s recent removal of a gay marriage scene from an Irish TV advertisement, saying that the omission is “an open insult to the LGBTQ community in Ireland and

McDonald's #CheersToSochi Campaign Meets With LGBT Backlash

Way back in August 2013 the Human Rights Campaign sent an open letter to the top 10 American sponsors of the Sochi Olympics. The letter contained a list of demands, but also a warning: "Your logos and marketing will appear alongside every event, indelibly linking your brand to what happens in Sochi." (The letter can be read here.) Sage advice McDonald's would have been well-advised to take.

But they didn't. We've neither heard updates from HRC or had any new announcements from the sponsors. They may have forgotten, but the LGBT activist community has not. In November Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, told the Associated Press, "It's taken months for the sponsors to formulate lawyerly responses that say nothing. We're going to work hard between now and Sochi to not let them off the hook."

With a big, helpful boost from mainstream media, McDonald's launched a social media campaign on Tuesday:

Coke social media tool bans word `gay,` but not `straight`

Proud Olympic sponsor Coca-Cola, recently implicated in the detention and arrest of a gay rights advocate in Russia, has a new problem with the worldwide gay community.  It seems that Coke’s social media campaign, “Share a Coke,” is only designed for heterosexuals.

The site, which permits Coke fans to enter their name (or a message) on a virtual can of Coke, bans the word “gay.”  It does not, however, ban the word straight.

When you type in the word “gay,” here’s the messsage that Coke gives you:

“Oops. Let’s pretend you didn’t just type that.”

Yes, wouldn’t Coke like to pretend that the gay didn’t exist at all, considering the backlash Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and other Olympics sponsors have been facing over their refusal to speak out against increasing Russian human rights violations.  McDonald’s, for example, just saw gay rights advocates, led by Queer Nation NY, steal and neutralize its new “Cheers to Sochi” Twitter hashtag.

In the case of Coke, the soft drink giant was already in hot water with the gay community for permitting Olympic security personnel to wear the Coke logo while they arrested a gay Russian dissident.

Coke even had the temerity to publicly defend the arrest of the gay rights advocate for waving a rainbow flag during the Olympic flame relay.

Here are some screen shots showing the Coke social media campaign tool in action. First, you type in the word “straight,” and Coke makes you a nifty little Coke can that you can send around the Web to all your straight friends:

Next, you type in the word “gay.”

Rather than get a nifty little gay can to go along with your straight can, you instead see a rather insulting message from Coke telling you that we should pretend you didn’t just attempt to type the word “gay.”

Haunting: That classic 1971 Coke commercial montaged with Russian gays being arrested

Wow. Quite a powerful new video by the gay rights group Queer Nation, taking that classic “I’d like to teach the world to sing” Coke commercial, and mixing it with images of gay Russians gets arrested by the police.

Coke is an official sponsor of the 2014 Winter Olympics taking place in Sochi, Russia in a few weeks, and Coke has been in a bit of hot water because of it.

Coke’s problems worsened significantly when an Olympic security employee, sporting a Coca-Cola logo, assisted in the arrest of Russian gay rights activist Pavel Lebedev for simply waving a rainbow flag along the parade route of the Olympic flame.

Coke only made matters worse when it defended the arrest of of the Russian human rights advocate.

This video is brilliant and chilling.  Who doesn’t love that Coke commercial from 1971?  It’s so early 70s, and really just a classic in great American advertising.  But part of what made the commercial so great was the warm and fuzzy “we are the world” nature of its message.

Classic Coke supported diversity. New Coke defends the arrest of dissidents, and even assists in the arrests. Oh how a mighty brand has fallen.

Coca-Cola Defends Arrest Of Russian LGBT Protester

A few days ago we showed you video of Russian LGBT activist Pavel Lebedev being arrested for unfurling the rainbow flag during the Olympic Torch Relay. What you may or may not have noticed was that on the official Olympic security guard's uniform were the Olympic rings and the Coca-Cola logo. 

Yesterday the Coca-Cola company released an email statement and responded to the incident and their logo being associated with it in perhaps the worst way possible: by defending the arrest and fining of Lebedev. The statement said, in part:

As a Presenting Partner of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay, our logo appears on all of the uniforms for the staff assigned by the Sochi Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) to support the Torch Relay.

SOCOG reported that a spectator was prevented from breaching the security perimeter around the Torchbearer. The spectator was detained briefly by local police and was fined.

Not exactly a strong statement from a company who, in that exact same letter, said:

As one of the world’s most inclusive brands, we value and celebrate diversity. We have long been a strong supporter of the LGBT community and have advocated for inclusion and diversity through both our policies and practices. We do not condone human rights abuses, intolerance or discrimination of any kind anywhere in the world.

LGBT Advocates Pressure Olympic Sponsor Coca-Cola to Condemn Russia's Anti-gay Crackdown

Over the past week or so, Coca-Cola executives have been quietly meeting to decide whether or not to speak out against Russia's horrific anti-gay laws. LGBT advocates and organizations, meanwhile, have begun pressuring the company through social media blasts and an online petition in the hopes of getting the major Olympic sponsor to stand firmly on the side of equality and human rights.

This isn't the first time that Coke has had to deal with the outcry surrounding Russia's anti-gay crackdown however. Back in August, in response to a Queer Nation protest of Coke in Times Square, the company issued a statement defending its sponsorship of the 2014 Sochi Olympics and touting its own LGBT inclusively in the past. The statement also included a vague condemnation of any "human rights abuses, intolerance, or discrimination" that might be going on around the world. But so far, the company has remained silent on directly addressing Russia's anti-gay regime. That may very well change this week if supporters can show Coke how many people want the company to speak out against the oppressive laws.

Other Olympic sponsors, including McDonalds and Samsung, are waiting to hear what Coke has to say this week. Because Coke is such an influential mega-corporation, the company's decision may very well set off a domino effect that pushes other international sponsors to follow suit.

Coca-Cola has been a fantastic LGBT corporate ally in the past, having received a 100% on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index every year since it was first launched in 2006. It's time for the company to once again step up as a leader in the fight for LGBT freedom and equality.

To sign the petition asking Coca-Cola to condemn Russia's brutal anti-gay laws, click HERE.

LGBT Activists In Times Square Rally To ‘Dump Coke’ For Sponsoring Anti-Gay Olympics

Braving a thunderstorm and high humidity, LGBT activists are rallying in New York City’s Times Square right now to draw attention to their “Dump Coke” campaign. Coca-Cola is accused of sponsoring hate because the international conglomerate is sponsoring the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. President Vladimir Putin is waging a war on gays, and has signed a law essentially making any expression of homosexuality, even holding hands or kissing, illegal.

Holding signs that read “Coca-Cola sponsors Russian hate,” Homophobia tastes bad — dump Coke,” and “Coke: Don’t sponsor hate,” the activists were mobilized by Queer Nation and RUSA LGBT. A reported 75 to 100 protesters turned out, despite the weather.

“By sponsoring the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Coca-Cola is associating its brands with state-sanctioned gay-bashing,” Queer Nation co-founder Alan Klein said via a press release. “Coca-Cola is sacrificing the safety and security of Russian LGBT people for profit – a position that opposes fundamental Olympic principles, runs counter to the International Olympic Committee charter, and that will tarnish its global image for decades to come.”

“Sponsoring the Games gives legitimacy to the host nation and that is exactly what Coca-Cola did when it sponsored the 1936 Games in Nazi Germany. We hope that Coca-Cola does not ignore its own history and does the right thing by refusing to support another regime that targets groups for hatred.”

“Nations compete for the privilege of hosting the Games and Russia has squandered that privilege by targeting LGBT Russians for discrimination and violence,” RUSA LGBT founder and co-president Yelena Goltsman added. “With its sponsorship of the Games, Coca-Cola supports the Russian government’s LGBT discrimination.”

The groups are demanding Coke:

• Withdraw its sponsorship of the 2014 Winter Games in Russia.
• Release a statement in English and Russian that condemns workplace discrimination, harassment, and bullying directed at customers and employees based on gender identity and sexual orientation
• Publish and publicize its LGBT employment policies on its Russian website in Russian and on physical bulletin boards and websites at all Coca-Cola owned and operated facilities.
• Conduct periodic company-wide sensitivity trainings about its LGBT employment policies worldwide.
• Institute a long-range policy to widely distribute its LGBT employment policies in human resources documentation and internal communications at all owned and operated facilities worldwide.
• Require that all Coca-Cola bottlers, distributors and vendors implement LGBT employment policies as a condition of their contract with The Coca-Cola Company.

The activists’ posters are especially effective against the Times Square advertising by Coca-Cola.